To ask if Co-Ed is better than single sex..

I went to a girls' prep (private) and secondary (grammar) and I now work in a girls' secondary.

I didn't love my time at school and I did find boys / men a bit of a novelty at uni and went a bit man mad 😳

I won't push my dd towards single sex, but it really works for some girls. The school I work in is very multicultural and mixed in terms of background (it's a state school). I feel as if the girls in the school I work in are too sheltered at all. I wonder if the grammar / private / selective aspect might almost be a bigger factor in that regard? But maybe not.

I adored going co-ed. My friend group was split about 50-50 boy/girl, and many of the boys (now men) were and are important parts of my life.

What’s your point? That girls should spend their formative years getting used to being harassed and sidelined by boys just because that’s what will happen in their adult lives? What garbage. Being exposed to abuse doesn’t make you more resilient to abuse. If girls can be left alone to get a brilliant education without worrying about this stuff then of course they will thrive. And all of the data backs this up.

I strongly prefer co-ed but that's really based on instinct rather than hard evidence. such evidence as their is on the relative merits tends in my very limited experience to have very commissioned by (usually private) girls' schools, and as such imo to be read with caution.

There is a BBC podcast about this reviewing the evidence, basically better for girls until 16: Bringing Up Britain
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010216

How are you going to do that research? How will you access the data?

The world is not single sex

The working world is not single sex

The social world is not single sex

I was at single sex and so are my DDs. The freedom to do maths and science without pressure from boys is great.

Single sex for girls absolutely. Coed is fine for boys but it begs the questions exactly who's girls get the pleasure of making it better for the boys...

I used to think coed all the way, but I have a close relative who has moved to teaching in a girls school and she has changed my view on this. She says it is amazing for the girls not having to put up with shit from entitled male pupils and constant low level sexual harassment. And her biggest problems in terms of classroom discipline are too much chatting and the occasional fall out amongst the girls, rather than having to break up physical altercations and deal with openly non-compliant students.

If I had a DD (at the moment, only one DS), I would push quite hard to at least give them the option of single sex. Girls are not there to 'socialise' boys and sadly what many girls learn during their school years is not how to stand up to boys, but how to appease them.

I went to a single sex school and loved it.

I can't imagine what it would have been like to have had hormonal boys all trying to act "cool" when I was trying to learn.

I also think that social media and the availability of porn means that I would definitely send my daughter to a single sex school if I had one.

id say it depends on the child and the particular school options.

my own dd would thrive in an all girls secondary school, but there simply aren’t any realistic options available in our country.

Depends on the child. My DD was surrounded by a big group of female friends but appreciated having the boys there. My DS is also surrounded by a big group of female friends so would likely have been miserable in a single sex school.

I went to a single sex school and was fine as I was friends with boys outside of school, but lots of the girls acted like boys were a different species.

I went co-Ed. Sent my girls single sex. Their experience is so much better - I would have been so much happier in a single sex school.

I work I a co-ed - we have lots of applicants from the female single sex school nearby.

Off topic but I’m a teacher in a mainstream coed secondary. I’m going to do some research into how many girls identify as trans or non binary in single sex compared to coed schools. I think it will be very interesting. I echo someone else who talked about the unprecedented levels of sexualised language and behaviour girls are subject to in mixed schools.

I think for most it doesn’t matter either way, just pick the school that you like best overall.

There’s a huge range of quality and experience available in each category. But all other things being equal, given the way too many boys feel entitled to treat their female peers, single sex for girls of course preferable.

I teach in a co-ed, the girls refuse to take their blazers off even when it's sweltering as you can see their bras through the shirts.

That isn't an argument for single sex education, it's an argument for a change of uniform supplier!

My siblings and I all went to co-ed

My DSS go to co-ed. My DNiece was in a single sex but has now moved to a co-ed.

The bullying in the single sex was hurrendous and on a wide scale. She is thriving at the co-ed.

Absolutely loved mine and didn't experience any of the problems that PP claim for single sex schools. I do think it depends on the individual, though. If the constant sexual harassment that some have experienced in co-ed schools is something girls don't (yet) have to cope with, it's all to the good, IMO. There was plenty of time for me to "toughen up" later and I think I was a lot more confident because I hadn't had to face it through the vulnerable teenage years and knew who I was and my own worth.

Yes it does beg that question doesn't it

Yes I've read research saying this too. I find it interesting that co-Ed has became the norm and wonder if it would still be the norm if the reverse was true.

I went to a co-ed, my girls went to co-ed (no single ones outside private in the area) and I worked in co-eds.

I thought 'resilience' was good.

Then I worked in single sex.

Single sex all the way. I didn't quite appreciate what it's like for girls to not have constant sexual harassment for 6.5 hours in a day until I saw it.